Two Toronto community leaders have gone public about a legal fight involving one of Canada’s oldest Zionist organizations, which also runs Camp Shalom, a 75-year-old Jewish summer camp in Ontario.
David Matlow, a CJN columnist who also lectures widely about Theodore Herzl, has taken the little known Toronto Zionist Council (TZC) to court over allegedly restricting who can be a member, claiming the organization only allows Jews who hold right-wing political views on Israel and Zionism. His legal case also alleges years of financial mismanagement by the organization’s former (and one current) directors, negatively impacting the TZC’s neglected Toronto headquarters at 788 Marlee Ave., and Camp Shalom, in Gravenhurst, Ont.
The lawsuit has been before the courts since August 2022. But while it continues, Matlow’s not-so-quiet pressure campaign has already resulted in a partial victory: the replacement of nearly all the longtime TZC directors at the centre of his allegations.
Guidy Mamann, a Toronto immigration lawyer, was named the new president of the TZC board, and says he’s vowing to set things right. He wants to help Camp Shalom grow, fix the office building on Marlee, investigate any financial wrongdoing and even try to retrieve any allegedly missing money.
On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, we bring you the full fascinating back story with plaintiff David Matlow and with new TZC president, Guidy Mamann.
What we talked about:
- Read our first part of the investigation into the squalid conditions of The Toronto Zionist Council’s headquarters at 788 Marlee Ave., in The CJN.
- Watch our tour inside 788 Marlee, on The CJN’s YouTube channel.
- See the 1995 letter from Revenue Canada revoking an affiliated charity that illegally sent money to the West Bank.
Transcript:
Commercial: Join the Toronto Holocaust Museum and its partners for a community wide Yom Hashoah commemoration on Sunday, May 5th, a moving evening of film, candle lighting, music and a tribute to survivors we’ve recently lost. Keynote speaker Yoni Berus from Yad Vashem will reflect on Holocaust remembrance post October 7th. The program is at Beth Emeth Synagogue at 7 p.m. Register at Toronto Holocaust Museum.org
Music
Actor: And imagine that you’re here 125 years ago and you see Herzl walk in.
Ellin Bessner: That’s what it sounded like in August of 2022 in Basel Switzerland. It was the 125th anniversary of the First Zionist Congress founded by Theodore Herzl. And in the audience that day was David Matlow, a Toronto lawyer, a former UJ A Federation campaign chair and owner of the largest collection of Theodore Herzl materials and memorabilia in the world.
That very first Zionist Congress brought together Jews of all stripes to work together as Zionists to solve the problem of finding a homeland for the Jewish people.
The conference came just a few weeks after Matlow took a leaf out of his hero’s book and began his legal quest to restore a little known but historic Canadian Zionist organization called the Toronto Zionist Council, which his father Irving once ran, to live up to its founding principles as a venue for all Canadian Zionists to come together in unity, especially now,
David Matlow: The issues that remain is whether the Toronto Zionist Council board and membership will be amenable to being what it is designed to do, what its existing framework requires it to do, which is to be a central table for Zionists of all perspectives and open, transparent and inviting people who might have different views, to work together to something that we all care about.
I’m Ellin Bessner and this is what Jewish Canada sounds like for Wednesday, April the 10th 2024.
Welcome to the CJ N Daily A podcast of the Canadian Jewish News sponsored by Metropia.
Music
Ellin Bessner: David Matlow says that when the Toronto Zionist Council was created, the Jewish community invested and entrusted some major community resources to it including Camp Shalom, a Zionist summer camp in Gravenhurst, Ontario that still operates to this day, 75 years later. The Zionist Council built a three story office building in North York at 788 Marlee 60 years ago. It was meant as a hub for the entire Toronto Zionist community with the offices of Hadassah and some Zionist youth movements of all stripes and all Israeli related activities.
But over time, Matlow says the council changed and when he tried to join the organization himself, he alleges he was told flat out he didn’t have the right, right-wing politics to be a member.
So Matlow and a former Camp Shalom staff member and official Robert Feldman, filed a lawsuit at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
It named the Toronto Zionist Council and five directors, Paul Rotenberg, his sister Reena Greenwald, Gilbert Zamonsky and Sharon (or Sandy) and Nachum Woolf.
The lawsuit also alleged years of mismanagement of the money collected from the camp and from renting out office space in the building that it owns to other organizations.
The directors have denied all the allegations.
Sfx: Izzy Waxman: I got warned when I got hired here not to drink the water and sure enough, and I only saw it this one day but the day that I got hired here, I did see water coming out of the taps brown, so I don’t drink the water here.
Ellin Bessner: In the summer of 2023, we brought you the first part of this investigation into the Toronto Zionist Council’s headquarters at 788 Marlee. The building that could have been considered the most squalid Zionist hub in Canada. In our reports, which you can check out by going to the links in our show notes, we went inside and found evidence of leaky roofs, flooded hallways, broken bathrooms, crumbling stairwells and rodent infestations in the basement.
Not to mention longtime tenants refusing to work in the building.
And Mazon Canada actually moving out for health reasons.
The City of Toronto tried to enter the premises several times to do inspections last summer.
But a spokesperson for the city told The CJN their inspectors couldn’t find anyone to let them in.
Now, Matlow’s court case alleges the five directors of the TZC misused the money they took in over the years and instead of reinvesting it into programs in Canada and the camp and the office building, they let the facilities fall into “shocking disrepair” and sent money elsewhere, out of Canada. Specifically to Israel.
As far back as 25 years ago, the TZC was named by Revenue Canada in a decision to revoke charitable status of a related Zionist group.
Because aside from not filing proper paperwork for years, this related charity illegally funnelled money through the Toronto Zionist Council to places like the Yesha Council of Jewish settlements in the West Bank. For their part, the defendants deny all Matlow’s allegations.
And the two directors, Sharon and Nachum Woolf specifically told the court, Matlow and Feldman don’t have clean hands and “just want to take over control of the camp and the organization”.
Sharon Woolf told me it’s a shame that Matlow and Feldman are using their money and forcing us to use our funds for lawyers when they claim to be worried about the waste of charitable funds.
Now, on today’s show, we have two interviews: first David Matlow to explain what’s behind his legal action
David Matlow: Thank you, Ellin.Thanks for having me.
Ellin Bessner: Can you walk us through why you were motivated to go this way?
David Matlow: So, the lawsuit began in August of 2022. But that was after about eight months discussion with the people who were then on the board of TZC. And when I say discussion, it was some correspondence because they really wouldn’t talk to me.
The issue was that the Toronto Zionist Council, an organization that was quite prominent in the city of Toronto until maybe 30 to 35 years ago, which invited representatives of a variety of Zionist organization–it’s a council–so it was a representative organization, was essentially taken over by a group that had a singular perspective and excluded people that had different views on Zionism from participating. And I thought, and together with my co plaintiff Robbie Feldman, that did a disservice to the Zionist community in Toronto.
And that was at a time again before October the seventh, where we needed as much unity and promotion and explanation of what Zionism is into our community.
And if our community thought that Zionism was of the singular perspective, and I’m not saying that a right-wing perspective on Zionism isn’t Zionism, of course, it is. But that’s not the only flavour of Zionism. And for something called the Toronto Zionist Council to reflect that singular view did a disservice because many people and especially many young people would not want to have anything to do with Zionism, if that’s how it’s described and that’s how it’s manifested in an organization called the Toronto Zionist Council. I said to them in correspondence (that was the then-board) “You cannot do that”. If you look at the articles of the corporation, it requires Zionists of all kinds.
Zionism in all of its ramifications is the 1942 language in the articles of the corporation in conjunction with the Canadian Zionist Movement. And so they weren’t adhering to that.
I said that they must because they’re in breach of their articles and various implications to Camp Shalom, which is owned by the Toronto Zionist Council, to the Toronto Zionist Centre building on Marlee Avenue which you spoke about in a piece in late June. All of that ensued because of the lack of diversity, the lack of transparency and Robbie and I were moved to do something about it.
Ellin Bessner: So for people of who probably never even heard about this, you said it was, 30 or 40 years ago, was quite active. That, I remember, too, but basically it became a shell of what it once was when you and your family were involved. I think your dad was president in its heyday. One of the things that has come forward from you trying to get on the board was they basically said, “Don’t call us, we won’t call you. Because we don’t want your type.” Is that basically the answer you got when you tried to run?
David Matlow: Well, essentially, yes. The bylaws of the organization are inconsistent with the articles (of incorporation).The articles said Zionists in all of its ramifications. The bylaws which were created in the late nineties, and they said in order to be a director slash member, you and every organization to which you belong had to have precepts were consistent with those of the organization.
The precepts were not written, but every single director for the 30 plus years before that were Zionists of a very right wing perspective, supporters of the greater Israel settlement initiatives and all of that.
And again, I’m not saying that’s not Zionism, it is, but anyone else was excluded from that.
And I had one conversation with one of the directors, that was in January of 2022.
And I said I would like to join the TZC. And she said, “Let me ask you one question. What’s your view on Judaea and Samaria?” I’m smart enough not to answer the question because I didn’t want to preclude myself from joining and I didn’t want to lie. So I dodged the question, but that gives you an indication of what the precepts were, right?
Ellin Bessner: And for our listeners who may not twig to it, it’s because people who call the West Bank Judaea and Samaria are of the belief, let’s say, just in general, that Israel should be one “From the river to the sea” but basically Jews because it was in the Bible. But anyway, back to, so you went to court, you’re still in court. But what has happened? And are you pleased? Are you satisfied? Are you feeling vindicated that there’s been changes because of what you forced?
David Matlow: As a result of the pressure brought by the lawsuit and bringing the issue into the light of day, sunshine is the greatest disinfectant. The TZC was forced to do something. And from what we understand, it’s only anecdotal, was that their bylaws were changed in some manner. We don’t know much. But it the result is that there are 11 members.These are the people who control the organization, the members in turn who elected five directors, one of whom is a holdover from the prior board, and four new people.
So that is a great development because there’s been a change and Robbie and I, we feel validated that the issues that we are trying to address were recognized as being a problem and a change ensued.
Some of the issues are who are the 11 members? We know some of them. We’re pretty confident they do not reflect the diversity of views of zionism in our community. They seem to be, if not wholly then an overwhelming preponderance of them, have a singular, similar perspective to that that preceded it. And in seeking the 11 new members, there wasn’t a public call for members. There was not a desire, it appears, to have Zionists who perhaps participate in Arza, a which is the Reform Zionist movement or Mercaz, the conservative Zionist movement, or progressive Zionists.
And they certainly didn’t ask me. There’s no one there who represents the Young Judaea movement, and the TZC owns Camp Shalom. And so that would be an obvious place to go as well.
And so the question is, is it a step towards a solution or is it just the perpetuation of the same kind of issue at this particular time in our community’s life? Divisiveness is one of our greatest problems.
And here is an organization which was created historically to be a unifier of Zionists of all stripes.
It lost its way because of the actions of certain people in our community.
Most of them are gone. New people are now in place and are they prepared to restore the TZC to be an organization which we desperately need in our community, a place where Zionists of all kinds can put aside whatever differences there may be, because all Zionists care about the future and security of the State of Israel. They may have different ways to reflect it or manifest it, but we need a central table. The TZC can be it and is the new board prepared to do that? I hope so. But we shall see.
Ellin Bessner: So, as far as that, I understand that’s the ethical and the moral issues. But there was also lots of allegations in your lawsuit and in another lawsuit of illegality in terms of how the money was handled.
David Matlow: The current new directors, four of the five directors, are not responsible for what preceded it. And there’s the opportunity, is for the TZC to make a change and move forward, both in respect of its diversity and in respect to its two major community assets.
And these are two assets that were purchased with the dollars from the community, individual benefactors, loan guarantees by community members. That’s the building on Marlee and Camp Shalom.
Camp Shalom is a young Judaea camp.
It was founded by the TZC in 1948 when the TZC was a general Zionist organization. And about 30 or 35 years ago, the orientation of the TZC changed and so there was a misalignment between the board and membership of TZC and the young Judaea ethos, perspective and philosophy of Camp Shalom.
And that mismatch had grave consequences in terms of the willingness to invest in capital improvements in the camp, board mentorship of the camp and involvement in the camp, lack of support by the TZC of Young Judaea programs and initiatives, all those things as a result of the mismatch and the lack of transparency.
I never went to Camp Shalom. I was not a young Judaea person.
I come at this from a perspective of: Camp Shalom is a very important part of our community landscape. To have hundreds of kids steeped in a Zionist experience every summer is critical and we owe it to the children and their families to give it the best possible opportunity for continued success, the greatest investment in the infrastructure, all of those things and that can best be achieved by a board and membership of TZC, the owner of the camp, that is aligned with the mission of the camp.
Ellin Bessner: So for example, what would that look like? So they, didn’t do what kind of flagpole thing? They didn’t have Yiddishkeit?
Tell me.
Matlow: The greatest concern, historically, as admitted to in my conversation that I had with Sandy Woolf in January of 2022, is the profits of the camp were not reinvested in the camp but used to support organizations operating in the West Bank, Judaea and Samaria. As well, the members of the board of TZC, there were four or five before the change over of the new directors–there are now five– are the directors of the camp. The board of directors of the camp.And I was on the board of Camp Ramah for 15 years and I know how involved we were in the camp, passionate camp people worrying about programming.“Can we get a better price for a sailboat?” “What kind of connections do we have to bring people in to help to do…”
And Camp Shalom historically, before this change over of directors, had none of that from the directors because they weren’t young Judaea people. They weren’t Camp Shalom people. They tripped into a corporation that had an asset, Camp Shalom, which was a source of funding for things that they cared about more.
Ellin Bessner: So there was funding shortfalls What things were not bought? Like, is the camp falling apart? The way the building is? I mean, is it something that parents would want to know?
David Matlow: I don’t know, I have not been to the camp so I don’t know. I only know things anecdotally of what I’ve heard and I don’t want to pass along anecdotal matters. I just know what has been told to me.
Ellin Bessner: So this has cost you, personally, financially too, because this is a lawsuit that you launched. Has it been worth it so far?
David Matlow: I started this because I thought there was something just not right, to try and help solve a problem. And I didn’t know this at the time, but this was an issue people were aware of and tried to solve in the decades that preceded Robbie and my initiative, and just couldn’t figure out a way.
And as some of your listeners might know, I have this thing for Theodore Herzl, and Theodore Herzl whispers in my head from time to time because this is what he did.
If you see a problem, don’t just kvetch about it, don’t just whine about it. Do it yourself. So, that’s what I, in a weird kind of way, right? Herzl is the founder of Zionism and inspired me to initiate a lawsuit against a Zionist organization. It’s a bit of a mind bender, but it’s worth it in the sense that I believe there could be a good outcome from this for the community.
Music
Ellin Bessner: Now, while Matlow’s lawsuit continues through the courts, I need to tell you there was a second lawsuit in play for two years.
This one was launched by Sharon and Nachum Woolf, two of the directors, against the other three, Rotenberg, Greenwald and Zamonsky. The Woolfs told the court in their statement of claim, which has not been proven, that one director billed the TZC for computer work of questionable value, bought items for the camp without proper authority and that this director and their family received other benefits from the camp.
Now, we can’t name this person or go into the details because the lawsuit against them has just been withdrawn as of March 7th and this defendant never responded to any of our many attempts to hear their side of the story.
So what happens now?
Well, there have been a few big developments in recent weeks.
There have been elections: four of the longtime directors of the TZC have now been replaced or stepped down.
Only Sharon Woolf remains. And there’s a new president, too: a prominent Toronto immigration lawyer, Guidy Mamann, who since October 7th also leads a weekly pro-Israel rally at Bathurst and Sheppard.
Now, Mamann is promising a fresh start, to clean up any financial irregularities, to make the camp his priority, to get back any money if it was misappropriated.
And as we mark six months since October 7th, he wants to forge closer co-operation with other Zionist groups in Toronto.
Here’s my interview with Guidy Mamann.
Ellin Bessner: Maybe you want to start with how you got involved with the TZC to be on their executive?
Guidy Mamann: OK.
So I really had zero to do with the Toronto Zionist Council. Nothing that I was interested in or been involved with. Obviously, I’m a Zionist. I’ve been a supporter of Israel since I could speak, but I was never involved at all with the TZC. I got a call one day, Sandy Woolf called me. She said, “Would you like to help the Toronto Zionist Council?” I said, “What’s going on?” She told me they’re having problems. But I said basically, if a Zionist organization needs help, I’ll help. That’s all I knew about the Toronto Zionist Council. About 30 seconds of an explanation.
And the reason why is because we’re at a time in our lives where we need to be together more than any time that I could remember. I’m 62 years old. I remember the Yom Kippur War. I was 13 years old. And I cannot remember a time when we needed to be more united than now. And so, of course I said yes.
Like I needed this like a hole in the head. Trust me. I’m a president of a shul. I have tons and tons of obligations outside of my work life.
But it’s just, it was something I needed to do. I’m a lawyer by profession. I solve problems by profession and that was it.
Ellin Bessner: And then you said yes. And now you’re president. Let’s just talk timeline. So the new election was when?
Guidy Mamann: Well, there was all the span over, like, let’s say last month, month and a half.
This time is here for somebody with a bit of strength to say “We need to get some stuff done that maybe should have been done before.” You know, some people call it mismanagement.
But I think the affliction at the Toronto Zionist Council is the same as many, many Jewish institutions: a lot of young people are not interested. They are doing their own thing. And fewer of the older people are left with responsibility, tremendous responsibility and quite frankly, sometimes they have the expertise to do it. Sometimes they don’t.
It’s just like my shul. All the young people have gone to Thornhill, to New York, to be fair, to Israel. You’ve never heard of it. You’ve never seen it. It’s a little rinky dink shut on Shepherd and Bathurst.
But the same thing, all the young people have left the soul for greener pastures. So it’s not that it’s not being mismanaged. It’s just, it’s just not. There’s too many things for too few people to do.
Ellin Bessner: To be fair, there are several lawsuits before the courts.
One was by two people who alleged that the direction of the Toronto Zionist Council was closed off to anybody that didn’t sort of follow the, the people who ran it. So the Matlow and the Freedman litigation where they said that, you know, David tried to be a member and they wouldn’t let him because it’s the way they’ve always run it. That’s the way they like it and no one else can join.
So you mentioned that we need to be unified going forward.
What do you hope to see from the Toronto Zionist Council in terms of opening it up to a broader diversity, or not?
Guidy Mamann: So, I don’t know what the facts are. What I understand, I read from the statement of claim. And I met with David this week. From what I understand there was a conversation with one of the board members and, she gave the impression that it’s limited to certain types of items.
Now, quite frankly, I only really know one kind of Zionist: a Zionist that is supportive of the State of Israel.
Now, we have lots of people who differ as to how we best support the State of Israel and the objects of the State of Israel. But if I believe somebody is waving that flag proud and who is interested in helping the State of Israel and helping Jewish communities around the world.
That’s a Zionist. To me, that’s the only Zionist that I understand.
And that I recognize, however, having said that, that’s not necessarily everybody’s stand. Like, look, you know, I have a guy who comes to my Shabbat dinner almost every Shabbat. He’s young Chazan, as Left as you can believe.
Do I share the same ideas as him? Hell, no. Hell no. But do I think he loves the State of Israel the same way I do?
Ellin Bessner: So, could he be on your board or a part of it?
Guidy Mamann: Or you ask me if they’re gonna change? OK. That’s assuming that what whatever was said to David Matlow is the rule, right? That’s an assumption which I’m not prepared to subscribe by.
There’s a constitution, there are rules and there’s common sense.
Somebody who–it’s not enough that you’re a Zionist–so you’ll have to forgive me, if you’re a nasty son of a gun or if you’re hard to work with, nobody wants to work with you, whether you’re a Zionist, I’m not saying it’s the point. What I’m saying is that besides being a Zionist, I mean, that would be a minimum criteria. But there could be other criteria as well.
Ellin Bessner: OK. So back to the mission of the TZC. So, are you looking to make some changes in who can be involved? That’s basically what the lawsuit was about right now.
Guidy Mamann: We’re making priorities.
This organization has been hurt badly by its bylaws.
It’s old bylaws. It basically said that anybody who’s a member is a director and everybody who’s a director is a member. Well, you can’t run an organization like that. At the same time, we’re dealing with the building. It needs a whole bunch of renovations, but I’m not worried about it. I’ve renovated buildings before. I own a five storey, historic building downtown, which was a tragic wreck. We cleaned that up and now it’s a gorgeous building. The building should be fit to use, it should be proper. So that’s not going to take very long.
Is there enough money to do it? I’ve heard some number, is, was misappropriated. We’re gonna get to all of that stuff. But right now, remember: we’re volunteers. Nobody’s getting paid for this.So we meet once a week or so for a couple of hours and we try to knock off as much as we can.
There’s also the camp, right?
The kids are supposed to be going to camp in a few months.
So, do I spend my time fixing the building?
Do I spend my time dealing with lawsuit or do I spend my time working on the camp?
So, right now, we decided those kids have to have a fabulous time at Camp Shalom this summer.
And I have buddies who are in the camp business, the Jewish camp business. And I’m going to ask them, what is a proper timeline?
Are we behind? Are we ahead? What shall we be doing?
And I’m looking for somebody to be a director of the organization who does know camps far better than me at immigration.
We’ve, this week, we had examinations for discovery. I had a settlement meeting with David and Paul and a member of our team.
We want to get rid of this lawsuit.
There’s no entity, no business, no institution that likes having a lawsuit around. It costs money, You know, Ellin, I’ve been doing a rally at the corner of Bathurst and Shepperd. Just raising money for flags. Like today, I got $200 in donations.
It’s not easy to come up with money today in our community because people are sending money to Israel, they’re sending money to wherever they can.
There’s no shortage of people asking for money. And it’s killing me, it’s killing me that our organization is throwing money into legal fees at $1,000 an hour. Right? And that the plaintiffs are spending their money, this money, in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. (That) would buy a lot of flags. If you know what I mean?
It could buy a lot of gear for our soldiers up in the north who are freezing in the north and we’re pissing away money on litigation, yet.
Our enemies? They’ve got to be laughing their heads off.
Ellin Bessner: Are you saying David and his partner are enemies or you’re talking about our enemies?
Guidy Mamann: Not David. I’m talking about the people on the anti-Israel side. If they were to see the Jews, Zionists suing Zionists, they’d be having a field day and I think we should take that away from them.
Ellin Bessner: Why should the Jewish community in Toronto have any confidence in this organization when there’s these allegations still swirling around? How are you going to repair that reputational damage for the camp, for the building, for the TZC?
Guidy Mamann: Well, it’s very simple. Let’s suppose, two years ago, they had reason not to trust this management team and I’m not saying they did, I am not conceding that point. I’m not agreeing that they did because I don’t know enough about the history. Today is a different day.
You got a new board of five people, three of whom are lawyers.
So, if you had a lack of faith in the previous organization, well, you have a lack of faith, but today is a different day and if you’re gonna carry that over till today, what are we supposed to do? We can’t move forward.
We have to move forward and you need to take a look at our reputations. But I think I have a reputation for being a no-nonsense person, somebody who’s trustworthy. I’ve been managing my clients’ trust money for years.
The Law Society has told me repeatedly that my books are some of the cleanest books that they’ve ever seen.
And I would rather my crew be working on doing things that are gonna help our community and help Israel rather than sitting there and having them sitting through examinations for discovery and dollars flying out the window. It’s a shame. It’s a Shanda. That’s what it is.
If there is any malfeasance against the TZC, right, the TZC is going to determine what it will do with that. So if somebody stole from the TZC, I got my eye on that. Ok, there may be a limitation period problem.
There may be other problems. I’m gonna get to that. But right now we got kids who are going to a camp in a few months. So next week is I’m going to be dealing with that problem. Anything else that sort of comes up? But that’s not forgotten. If there is somebody who should not be near the organization–somebody took money from us–we’ll get it back.
Ellin Bessner: There are other Zionist organizations and Federation and what have you? So, what do you see as the role of this legacy organization which got into trouble? And now you’re trying to bring it forward? Is there still a purpose?
Guidy Mamman: I’m forward looking. Is there a purpose? You seriously?
Ellin Bessner: So seriously, I’m asking.
Guidy Mamann: Toronto has one of the biggest Jewish communities in the country. On Thursday night (March 7, 2024) I went to the BAYT synagogue where several hundred Palestinians [were protesting]. Understand? I get there and there are three or four different sound systems there, right? Three or four different guys screaming into microphones. We can’t even coordinate a counter rally in front of one of Toronto’s biggest and most active synagogues.
Thank God we have an organization like UJA Federation of Greater Toronto, but the average grassroots activist has no resource really.
So I’m saying to you, hon, if we don’t get our act together very, very quickly. And I’m not talking about the Toronto Zionist Council–who cares about the Toronto Zionist Council–if we don’t start working together as a community and we don’t start working together as a community under the umbrella of an organization like TZC, we might as well pack our things and get out of here because it’s not gonna be very comfortable. Enough.
Ellin Bessner: Is there any last thing that you wanted to mention so our listeners understand, that I didn’t ask?
Guidy Mamann: I just think Ellin, it’s really, really a time for unity.
And, I’m not just talking about the Matlow lawsuit and everything.
I really think that we have imposed on ourselves so many labels.
This one’s Left, this one’s Right. This one’s this kind, this one is that kind of Jew, that kind of Jew
This is not the time in our history for that.
We have enough enemies and I don’t know how we make up for the huge disparity in numbers between 15 million Jews worldwide and billions of enemies. I don’t know how we do that, but we’re not gonna do it like this. We’re gonna have to be working closer together.
Sephardi, with Ashkenazi, Left with Right, tall with short, whatever it is, we have to do that. Otherwise the future for our children doesn’t look so good. So I think we should start working together. Let’s forget about the labels for a couple of years. Let’s worry about just one Jew trying to make another Jew in this community and in Israel ’s lives a little bit better, more secure and more fulfilling.
Ellin Bessner: I appreciate you sharing your thoughts.
Guidy Mamann: My pleasure.
Music:
Ellin Bessner: As for Camp Shalom, Matlow’s lawsuit told the court he was concerned that the camp had not been “significantly upgraded in many years despite the fact that it would likely generate significant revenue” unquote.
Despite the challenges of operating the camp successfully under the previous board, the director, Rebecca Diamond, tells The CJ N she has made major improvements in the past four years since she came on board.
This includes upgrading the health centre and the showers, installing new hot water and sewage systems, fixing roofs, creating more accommodation for staff and campers, buying new life jackets and tennis rackets and doing everything she could to comply with the provincial public health rules and camping industry regulations.
And that’s what Jewish Canada sounds like for this episode of The CJN Daily, sponsored by Metropia, Integrity, Community Quality and Customer care.
If you have questions or comments about today’s episode or you want to share what you know, get in touch the usual way at [email protected]
Thanks for listening to the CJN Daily.
Credits:
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
